Trump Says He Will Debate Cruz Once Judge Deems Him Eligible to Run

"We don’t even know if Ted Cruz is legally eligible to run for president of the United States.”

Donald Trump's campaign manager Corey Lewandowski announced that Trump would be happy to debate Senator Ted Cruz -- once Cruz is determined to be eligible for the presidency by a federal judge.

“Once you’ve gotten that ruling from the federal judge and you’re the last man standing in this presidential contest next to Donald Trump, we’ll be happy to have a debate with you one-on-one, anywhere you want, because that’s the way the system works,” Lewandowski said. “But, as it stands right now, we don’t even know if Ted Cruz is legally eligible to run for president of the United States.”

Trump had floated the idea that Cruz might not be eligible to run for the presidency because he was born in Canada, albeit to a U.S. citizen.

Cruz had challenged Trump to a one-on-one debate after Trump refused to participate in the Fox News debate on Thursday night. Trump wanted the network to remove host Megyn Kelly as a moderator for the event.

“What this is, is a publicity stunt by Senator Cruz who is continuing to fall in the polls in the state of Iowa,” Lewandowski told Boston radio host Jeff Kuhner.

“If Ted Cruz were able to disclose the loans that he’s taken out from Goldman Sachs and Citi, then maybe he would use his own money for this, but instead he’s using super PAC money which I don’t even know if he can do legally,” Lewandowski said, referring to loans Cruz took out during his 2012 run for Senate that he did not disclose in campaign filings. “And the bottom line is, you know what we’ve said to Ted Cruz, go into court, seek a declaratory judgment to find out if you’re even legally eligible to run for president of the United States.”